SoCalHoops High School News
SoCalHoops High School News
Oregon Holiday Invitational
Features Crenshaw
Among Other National Teams--(Nov. 23, 1998)
If you read our preview of Crenshaw High School, then you know that one of the tournaments they'll be attending will be the Oregon Holiday Invitational. We didn't know much about this when we interviewed coach West, and he didn't either, except that it was supposed to be a pretty good tournament with some top competition.
Well, today we received the official press release on the tournament, and found out just how good it's going to be. And actually, the tournament isn't just the "Oregon Holiday Invitational." Nope. It's actually called the "Les Schwab Tires Oregon Holiday Invitational." Now that's quite a name, but then this is quite a tournament.
The tournament will run from December 19-23 at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and will feature some of the top teams in the country, including , Lexington Catholic, from Lexington, Kentucky, Tampa Prep from Tampa, Florida, the Beaverton Beavers from Beaverton, Oregon, the West Linn Lions, featuring Cameron Carr, the Churchill Lancers, Jesuit High's Crusaders featuring Duke signee and former Pump-N-Run player Michael Dunleavy, Jr., Benson Tech, Sheldon High's Irish, the Westview Wildcats, the Jefferson (Oregon) Democrats, the South Salem Saxons, Wilson Trojans, Marshfield Pirates, Sunset Apollos, and the Lake Oswego Lakers.
The Oregon Holiday Invitational is Oregon's only 16 team invitational boys tournament and will feature 13 teams who are expected to be Oregon's top teams for '98/'99, and three national powers. This tournament will be interesting in a lot of ways, and it's one of the few opportunities to see Mike Dunleavy Jr., possibly go up against his future teammate at Duke, Casy Sanders (6'-11" Sr. C) from Tampa Prep, who is a consensus top 25 player nationally. Sanders has the state record for blocked shots in a game with 19, and Tampa is 66-10 over the past two seasons and has advanced to its state semifinals in each of those years with Sanders.
Another "national" team appearing will be Lexington Catholic, which finished 1997-’98 ranked #17 in the country by USA Today. They have Nathan Popp (7'-2" Sr. C) who has signed with the Georgia Bulldogs and Don Offutt (6'-3" Sr. G). Of course the other "national" team attending this tournament will be Crenshaw, and we won't go into too much detail about them except to say that a full preview of the team is available here at SoCalHoops.
Representing Oregon for the second time in this tournament will be the 1997 runner-up Churchill. Those in for the third conscutive year are defending state champion Beaverton, South Salem, Westview, Benson, and Jefferson, and Jesuit, West Linn, and Marshfield will attend for the second time. First time entrants are Lake Oswego, Sheldon, Sunset and Wilson.
The tournament format will be altered slightly from previous years, and will only be played at one location, Lewis & Clark College. Each team will still be guaranteed four games. Opening round games will take place Saturday Dec. 19th and Sunday will be an off day. The final three rounds will take place Monday through Wednesday also at Lewis & Clark College.
And for those who want to follow Crenshaw's success and the results of the tournament generally, we're told that the organizers of the tournament, ProMax has their own website, and will be posting up the first round matchups and daily updates.
For additional information contact ProMax at 503-227-1588.
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Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com
